We wanted to develop a chassis for a 1/10th scale self-driving racecar. We developed the chassis (frame) to package and protect various autonomous driving components. The components consisted of a depth sensing camera, a LiDAR (Light Detecting and Ranging) sensor, a computer which controls the car through a motor, a speed controller and a servo motor to steer the car. The frame also needed clearly defined metrics that affect how the car moves. The most important metrics were the center of gravity and moment of inertia.

Tribometers measure several different quantities such as the coefficient of friction, the wear rate, the friction force and the normal force. For space exploration, tribometers must operate in space-like conditions—in a vacuum and in high or low temperatures and pressures. Tribometers exisit that can operate in these conditions, but they typically have long setup times and can only test one sample at a time. Testing more than one sample at a time is important to the aerospace industry because it saves time and therefore reduces costs.